Adrien set down his plate of half-eaten food, and sat back against the couch with a sigh. He glanced at Marinette, who was busy picking apart the last little bit of her croissant. He ran his hands through his hair, then clasped his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Where the hell did they go from there?
He felt a gentle touch on his cheek, and opened his eyes to see Marinette's kwami hovering near his face, a serene smile on her tiny face. Plagg, he saw, was searching the platters on the coffee table for cheese that he might pilfer.
"Why are you so sad, Adrien?" The red kwami asked him softly.
Marinette heard the question, and looked at them sharply.
He frowned, glancing at her again before returning his attention to the kwami. Kikki? No, Tikki. "I-I'm not. I'm just…drained," he finally responded.
The kwami shook her head, but it was Plagg who answered. "Yeah, right." He scoffed. "You've been whining about wanting to get her out of the mask for two years now, and now that you've done it, you're moping."
Tikki rolled her eyes at Plagg's blunt manner. "I'm sure you are drained, Adrien, but you're also sad. Desperately so." Here, she turned and drifted closer to her chosen. "And so are you, Marinette. Yet you both sit here in silence. You're still Ladybug and Chat Noir, with or without the masks. You're friends, partners. Knowing your identities should both bring you closer and make you stronger."
"It's like this, kid." Plagg belched, and flew up from the table to hover next to Tikki. "I have no problem letting you torture yourselves, but what happens the next time an akuma shows up? You'll be too twisted up to fight."
"Talk to each other. It'll all work out, you'll see." She floated back to Plagg and grabbed his paw. "Come on, let's give them space to talk."
"See you love birds later!" Plagg called with a wave as he allowed himself to be pulled away.
Both Adrien and Marinette stiffened, blushing furiously. Marinette returned to picking at her croissant with a vengeance, and Adrien sat forward to rest his forearms on his thighs and hang his hands between his knees. Again, they spoke at the same time.
"I, um—"
"I guess—"
Their eyes met, and then skittered away. Adrien cleared his throat, but kept his eyes on his hands.
"I'm sorry, Marinette. I know you didn't want me, or anyone else to know. But, it's not all bad, is it?" He glanced at her briefly. "We can help cover for each other now."
"That's true." Marinette sighed unhappily. "You should know, I am going to have to tell Alya, too."
Adrien looked at her sharply. "Alya? Why?"
"I had to ask her to help cover for me tonight. My parents think that I'm at her house. And you know Alya, she's not going to let it go until I tell her what's going on. She barely let it go tonight. She was worried."
"She's a good friend. I'm glad you have her."
Marinette smiled. "She is a good friend. I only hope that she will forgive me for not telling her sooner. Ugh, and that she won't press me about you! She's going to know that something happened with us. She won't want to let that go, either." She dropped her head in her hands, and spoke through her fingers. "How am I going ever to explain that?"
Adrien was quiet for a moment, then sat back against the couch. "What did happen with us, Marinette?"
She dropped her hands from her face, and sat back, too, being careful not to move too quickly. She wrapped her arms around herself, the gesture subconsciously defensive. "I—I don't know, Adrien. I wish that I could be someone other than I am, someone you could want to work with. But I'm just, me."
His brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"I know you're disappointed! How could you not be—"
"Marinette—"
"—Your precious Ladybug has turned out to be clumsy, boring Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"
As she was speaking, he'd turned on the couch so that he was facing her, and laid his arm along the back. "What the hell are you talking about, Marinette? Where did you get so many ridiculous ideas?"
She looked at him with wide eyes, taking in the angry expression on his face and the way he was leaning in toward her. She blinked in confusion. "I d-don't know. If you're not disappointed that I'm Ladybug, then why are you so upset?"
"Because you're disappointed that I am Chat Noir, and angry with me for forcing you to reveal yourself!"
"But I'm not angry with you, or disappointed! I'm afraid!" She snapped her mouth closed, not wanting to reveal more than that.
The anger in his expression had given way to surprise, then to something surprisingly tender. "What are you afraid of, Mari?"
Instead of answering, she tucked her legs under her body, and picked at the hem of her too-large t-shirt. Her fingers stilled when his much larger hand covered hers, and she saw that he'd moved from the couch to sit directly across from her on the coffee table. "What are you afraid of?" He asked again, more softly this time.
Marinette looked up, into the eyes of her partner. "That things will change," she finally answered, just as softly.
"Of course they will change. But I'm hoping that they will change for the better." He studied her face, and shook his head. "But that's not it, is it? You're not— Are you afraid of me?"
"No! Of course not."
"Then what is it?" He released her hands so that he could grip her shoulders. "Whatever it is, I will protect you—"
"I'm afraid that I will lose you! I'm afraid that you will never lo—" She cut herself off again, mortified by what she'd almost said.
He released her, surprised by her answer. "Marinette, you're not going to lose me. We're a team. We're friends. Why would that change?"
"Because I'm awkward and plain, and you only spend time with me because I'm, well, convenient when we're with Alya and Nino."
"Is that really how you see yourself?" He looked angry again. "You're wrong. You're beautiful, and amazing, and I don't understand how I never made the connection on my own. I'm ecstatic that you're my Ladybug."
Adrien saw the shock on her face and wondered how she could think so little of herself. Her blue eyes were opened wide, and her lips had parted in surprise. His gaze lingered on her mouth, and before he knew quite what he was doing, he'd taken her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers. She stiffened, but didn't pull away. Taking that as a good sign, he moved his lips over her mouth in a gentle caress before pulling himself back to look at her face. She hadn't kissed him back.
"A-Adrien?" She pressed a shaking hand to her mouth, her eyes riveted to his.
"I've told you before, many times, that I love you. That has not changed."
"But, y-you love Ladybug not—"
"Yes, I love Ladybug, and you are Ladybug." He took her hands in his again. "Ladybug is who she is because of the woman under the mask. How could I not love you?"
This time, it was Marinette who moved. Momentarily heedless of her injuries, she grabbed his head and kissed him. With a groan, he lashed his arms around her waist and pulled her body against his. She broke the kiss with a gasp, moving her hand defensively to her side.
"Merde, Marinette, I am so sorry!" He moved his hands to her hips to steady her on the edge of the couch. "I completely forgot. Are you ok?"
"It's alright, chaton." She smiled. "I'm more than ok."
His eyes shot back to hers. "Y-you are?"
"Adrien, I have been in love with you since you gave me your umbrella, the first day we met." She laughed softly at his poleaxed expression.
"That's why you were always so weird around me, that first year?"
Marinette laughed again, looking away uncomfortably. "Yeah. I wanted nothing more than to talk to you, to get to know you, but I would get so nervous that my brain would turn to mush."
"That's actually really…sweet."
"Ugh, it was embarrassing." She dropped her face in her hands. "It is embarrassing," she mumbled through her fingers.
"No! I thought it was because you still didn't like me, in spite of what I said to you that day in the rain. To know that it was the opposite, that you liked me too much, is…good."
Marinette peeked through her fingers, saw that he was smiling at her, and dropped her hands to sheepishly return the smile. "Maybe it's not so bad, then."
"But what about later? Once you got past being..."
"Awkwardly brain dead around you?" Marinette laughed again, and Adrien found that the low sound did something strange to his insides. "I was still shy," she continued. "You were this incredibly gorgeous teen model with fame and fortune and I was…just me. You never seemed interested in spending time with me outside of school, or hanging out with Nino and Alya. It never occurred to me that you might like it, if I tried to deepen the friendship."
"Why do you keep saying 'just me,' like it's a bad thing?"
"I'm nothing special, Adrien."
"But you are special. You're kind, and clever and resourceful. You're amazing. I would have been glad to get to know you better, sooner. Think about today. I had a great time with you after school, before the fire, and I was disappointed that we were interrupted."
"Really?"
"Really." He smiled at her again, and his expression turned sly. "So you think I'm 'incredibly gorgeous', mi'lady?"
Her cheeks turned pink, and she shoved at his shoulder in protest, but she didn't retreat. "You know that you are, you vain cat."
He grinned. "But it's so much more sPAWcial, to hear it from you!"
"Mon dieu, Chat, does this mean that I will be hearing the puns at school now, too?" She grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and shoved it in his face. "I do love you, but the puns still annoy me to pieces!"
His laughter died, and he clutched the pillow reflexively. "Did you mean it?"
"That I love you?" He nodded, and she smiled. It felt to him like the sun had just come out from behind a cloud, to warm him. "Yes, chaton, I do."
"You kept pushing me away, as Chat Noir." He absently twisted the pillow in his hands, not even realizing that he still held it. "I knew that you—Ladybug—respected me as her partner, but that you only just tolerated me beyond that."
"Chat Noir is my friend, Adrien." He looked crestfallen at this, and she paused to draw a deep breath, wincing when doing so pulled at her ribs. She tugged the mangled pillow from his hands, tossed it aside, and gripped his hands firmly. "I do respect him as my partner. I admire his abilities, and I trust him with my life. But, I was in love with you, Adrien Agreste. I never took his flirting seriously. Until tonight, I loved him as a dear friend. Now that I know that he is you…" Her voice trailed off, and she shrugged. "I guess, my feelings for the two sides of you have…merged..." She noticed that his gaze had fallen to her mouth as she'd spoken, and remembering that he'd kissed her the last time that had happened, she began to feel self-conscious. As she had a habit of doing when nervous, she bit lightly on her lower lip. His breath caught. "Chat?" He raised warm eyes to hers. "Adrien?"
"Marinette, can I kiss you again?" She nodded mutely, and watched in confusion as he stood from his place on the table. He did not release her hands. Rather, he used them to gently pull her to her feet in front of him, then slid his hands slowly up her arms to her shoulders, and from there to her chin. With his thumbs, he tipped her face up to his. "You are so beautiful, Marinette." He slid one hand into her hair, to cup the back of her head and draw her closer to him, while the other hand moved back to her shoulder. He kept his eyes on hers until the last possible moment, when they both surrendered to the kiss.
Marinette felt her blood thundering in her veins, and thought that surely, he must hear her heart pounding in her chest. Never mind that they had already kissed twice. Both of those had been quick, and unexpected. This was…different.
This was purposeful, deliberate.
This time, they were savoring the experience, memorizing it so that they could come back to it again and again. A delicious, languid heat had spread through her, and her skin tingled where he had touched her. She raised her hands to his hips as she began to sway forward, guided by his hand on the back of her head. Their lips touched once, fleetingly, and then again with more pressure. His lips were soft, yet firm against her own and she felt an incredible thrill to know that Adrien Agreste was kissing her. Not Ladybug, not the mask, or the hero. He was kissing Marinette Dupain-Cheng, because he loved her. The knowledge made her feel both light-headed and bold. She flexed her fingers into his hips, anchoring herself against his body, and tentatively touched her tongue to his mouth.
He moaned, surprised and aroused by her response to his kiss. He parted his lips and deepened the kiss, too absorbed in the embrace to care that neither of them really knew what they were doing. His left hand left her shoulder, and moved to the small of her back, to pull her hard against him.
As before, she broke the kiss with a gasp, and staggered back.
"Merde, Marinette—"
She put a hand over his mouth. "Sshh, chaton. I'm ok. It only startled me."
He nodded, and dropped his forehead to hers.
"It's probably just as well, Princess," he laughed breathlessly. "I might not have ever stopped, otherwise."
She laughed with him. "We couldn't have that, now could we?"
"Sadly, no." He straightened, but he didn't release her. "We'll have to go to school tomorrow."
Marinette groaned, dropping her forehead against his chest. "Oh, what are we going to do, Adrien?" She glanced at his bed, and blushed. "Am I, um, am I staying here tonight?"
He blushed, too. "You can, if you like. You could have the bed, I'd sleep on the couch, and we'd figure the rest out in the morning." She opened her mouth to argue, but before she could protest putting him out of his bed, he continued. "Or, Chat Noir could take you to Alya's house." She closed her mouth, considering. "I know how you hate to lie. If you go there, then what you told your parents wouldn't be a lie."
A relieved smile crossed her face, and he knew that she'd made up her mind.
"I'll just have to wait for another time to have you in my bed." He grinned at her stunned expression. "Plagg, claws out!"
